A Trade Watershed

Updated Dec. 5, 2001 12:01 a.m. ET

Every so often there's a vote in Congress that is wonderfully clarifying. One of those is tomorrow's House vote on "trade promotion authority," which will separate the genuine free-traders from the political poseurs.

TPA, as it's known in the Beltway, would give President Bush (and any future President) the right to negotiate broad trade agreements subject to a straight up-or-down vote by Congress. The power is imperative if America is to reassert its leadership in trade and to expand the circle of global...